Censorship

News about Censorship, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Mar. 31, 2015

China has of late been attacking websites that attempt to help Internet users in country dodge censorship, including search firm Baidu; main target of latest attacks is GitHub, popular site that functions as library of code for programmers. MORE

Mar. 26, 2015

Editorial welcomes decision striking down restrictions on Internet speech in India, where officials have been banning films, intimidating authors and arresting Internet users; observes while Indian Supreme Court's move is improvement in increasingly restrictive atmosphere, it still leaves room for government to block websites on the basis of national security. MORE

Mar. 14, 2015

Turkey's censorship policy, which blocks access to websites government finds objectionable, does not extend to sites that advocate Islamic extremism or even some that recruit Turks to join Islamic State; some critics say Pres Recep Tayyip Erdogan's selective crackdown on freedom of speech reflect's government's Islamic values. MORE

Mar. 7, 2015

Documentary film Under the Dome is deleted from major Chinese websites on orders of Communist Party's propaganda department; video had caused national stir over country's air pollution problem and was viewed hundreds of millions of times on Internet in week since its release. MORE

Mar. 7, 2015

Zachary Woolfe Critic's Notebook chastises New York Youth Symphony for cancelling Carnegie Hall performance of Jonas Tarm composition Marsh u Nebuttya after complaint about its quotation from Nazi anthem; notes several examples of musical works that have referenced anthem or expressed political messages; calls on symphony to perform work and let audiences interpret it for themselves. MORE

Mar. 5, 2015

New York Youth Symphony pulls commissioned piece by composer Jonas Tarm from Carnegie Hall performance after learning that it contains musical quotation from Nazi anthem; Tarm says piece is about conflict, totalitarianism and nationalism and calls orchestra's decision censorship. MORE

Feb. 10, 2015

Yuan Guiren, China's education minister, ramps up calls for ban on textbooks that promote Western values, warning that they will corrupt young minds; latest censorship attempts elicit rare open criticism from Chinese academics and students, who reject idea that they are intellectually vulnerable and note that Guiren has reversed his prior comments promoting openness. MORE

Feb. 3, 2015

Censoring of Mihir Joshi music video that used word 'Bombay' by India's Central Board of Film Certification has drawn criticism and mockery, but board's chairman says he stands by decision; name of city was changed to Mumbai in 1995, and dispute points to ongoing debate over history and identity in India. MORE

Jan. 31, 2015

Editorial contends that series of steps China has taken to tightly control Internet communication and devices will harm both Chinese economy and its international business relations; holds that country's proposed regulations, which are aimed at suppressing dissent and promoting Chinese technology at expense of foreign industry, amount to protectionism and will discourage trade negotiations with rest of the world. MORE

Jan. 30, 2015

Chinese officials are further tightening and restricting Internet access; crackdown is angering artists, entrepreneurs and professors who say country's economy is being choked at time of declining growth; multinational companies also worry about rising online restrictions of virtual private networks, or VPNs. MORE

Jan. 27, 2015

Turkish state broadcaster TRT and a Facebook employee confirm that company has blocked access to pages with content that Turkish authorities have deemed insulting to Prophet Muhammad; action was taken to comply with Turkish court order which, if defied, may have resulted in government cutting off access to social media site entirely. MORE

Jan. 16, 2015

Editorial contends European leaders are taking misguided actions to reduce hate speech and prevent terrorism in aftermath of Charlie Hebdo attack; warns suggested censoring of hate speech and providing means of monitoring conversations by Internet service providers would be potentially ineffectual, invasive and dangerous; holds government should continue to use targeted intelligence gathering to stem terrorist threats, but not censorship and surveillance. MORE

Jan. 5, 2015

Survey of writers around world by the PEN American Center finds that significant majority say they are deeply concerned with government surveillance and that it has affected their willingness to address controversial topics in writing; results show that writers consider freedom of expression to be under threat around world in both democratic and nondemocratic countries. MORE

Jan. 4, 2015

Op-Ed article by author Nury Vittachi describes hurdles Chinese screenwriters face as they try to get movies made while withstanding the censor's shears; expresses hope that Chinese public and investors will eventually demand standards that are similar to the rest of the world. MORE

Jan. 2, 2015

Challenges for web freedom will increase in 2015; Turkey and Russia are seen as increasing censorship of foreign-based Internet firms; American companies like Facebook, Twitter and Google are wrestling with which laws to adhere to worldwide, and which to ignore or fight. MORE

Jan. 1, 2015

Editorial notes dilemma faced by Chinese government as it attempts to balance its emergence into global economy, which calls for the Internet-based management tools of the technology giants, with long-held authoritarian control over the flow of information across its borders; cites China's apparent decision to shut down Google's Gmail service as a frustrating and ultimately damaging attempt to create Internet sovereignty. MORE

Dec. 30, 2014

Gmail users in China say authorities seem to have blocked access to Google's email service through third-party email services, which many people had used after government blocked direct access to site in June; Google appears to have been singled out, as other Western companies say they have had no complaints from users. MORE

Dec. 30, 2014

Tenth Shanghai Biennale is held in new Power Station of Art, one of china's few state-owned contemporary art institutions; museum's reorganized academic committee includes prominent international figures and for first time in history of biennale chief curator is allowed to choose theme, but negotiating government censorship remains problematic. MORE

Dec. 24, 2014

Editorial praises Cuba's growing community of bloggers who have taken up Pres Raul Castro's call to be critical of government, providing needed alternative to official press; observes that this group stands to gain most from improved relations with United States because of Pres Obama's policy shift; expresses hope that Cuban leaders will be courageous enough to broaden access to Internet and end censorship. MORE

Dec. 23, 2014

Facebook's decision to block page intended to rouse opponents of Russian Pres Vladimir V Putin has embroiled site in political controversy and prompted accusations of censorship; event page on site promoted rally in favor of leading opposition figure Aleksei A Navalny. MORE

Dec. 2, 2014

China's new Internet czar Lu Wei is tough overseer of a restrictive national policy that in large part controls access of American Internet companies to lucrative Chinese market; China's assertive new Internet policy claims right to block websites, censor content and track users. MORE

Oct. 30, 2014

Thousands of Hungarians gather in streets of Budapest to protest country's plans to tax Internet use, move seen as way to cut off public debate by limiting information not controlled by the rightist government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban. MORE

Oct. 1, 2014

Politically-minded web users in mainland China are attempting to outmaneuver government censors who have been working to scour social media of photos and news about continuing demonstrations in Hong Kong; users are posting pro-democracy remarks on nonpolitical websites and uploading selfies of shaved heads in solidarity with protesters. MORE

Sep. 28, 2014

Frank Bruni Op-Ed column contends that education should not be too tame, challenging Banned Books Week and instances of harmless books being banned by school boards; maintains efforts to ban some books are inextricable from subtler, more pervasive dynamics of caution and conformity in classrooms and schools. MORE

Sep. 28, 2014

Editorial criticizes Chinese government for imposing burdensome controls on Internet, such as blocking online libraries, text messaging applications and cloud computing services; contends China's worsening censorship points to increasing tensions between pursuing economic development and maintaining Communist Party's control over how people communicate with each other and the outside world. MORE

Sep. 22, 2014

Chinese government, as part of broad campaign to tighten internal security, is clamping down on web traffic, making it more difficult for Google and its customers to do business; even as Google and other big tech firms have lobbied heavily for easing of restrictions, China's broader scrutiny of multinationals has intensified. MORE

Sep. 21, 2014

No Chinese movie has ever won an Academy award for best foreign-language film, though China's government officials are eager for cultural validation would Oscar bring; many feel that selection process by State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, which regulates the Chinese film industry, is capricious and hobbled by censorship restrictions. MORE

Sep. 16, 2014

Thai Ministry of Education has ordered history textbooks to omit any mention of former Prime Min Thaksin Sinawatra; it is unclear to what degree ruling military junta can censor history due to Internet and social media. MORE

Aug. 31, 2014

South Korean government, in unusual display of censorship, pulls large painting by dissident artist Hong Sung-dam from international art festival; Hong has been outspoken in his opposition to Pres Park Geun-hye's government, echoing widespread criticism of its botched rescue effort following ferry disaster, lax oversight, and resistance to a broad independent investigation. MORE

Aug. 23, 2014

Indian government has blocked release of film Kaum De Heere, which dramatizes 1984 assassination of Prime Min Indira Gandhi, on grounds that it could incite religious tensions; Gandhi was killed by two of her own bodyguards, who were Sikh, and assassination was followed by riots throughout India in which thousands of Sikhs were killed. MORE

Jul. 11, 2014

Myanmar court sentences chief executive of Unity journal and four of its reporters to 10 years in prison on hard labor for publishing article about possible chemical production facilities; Burmese journalists say jail terms are major blow to recently won news media freedoms in country after five decades of censorship and persecution. MORE

Jul. 5, 2014

Sina Weibo, Chinese microblogging site that created open public forum and served as incubator of social change, has been eclipsed by social networking site WeChat following government crackdown on Weibo; WeChat fosters communication between self-selected groups of followers, signaling shift from public to semi-private communication and decline of large-scale information sharing. MORE

Jun. 25, 2014

Op-Ed article by Setareh Derakhshesh, director of the Voice of America Persian Service, contends experience of the organization shows that Iranians are eager to be exposed to global media, ideas and culture, despite Iran's attempts at Internet censorship. MORE

Jun. 3, 2014

Authorities in China have made Google's services largely inaccessible in recent days, move most likely related to government's efforts to stifle discussion of 25th anniversary of crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square; Gmail, Calendar and Translate are also affected. MORE

May. 30, 2014

Turkey's highest court rules that government ban on video-sharing site YouTube is unconstitutional and violation of freedom of expression. MORE

May. 24, 2014

Judicial authorities in Iran move to block Instagram, and imprison director who made now-famous Iranian version of Pharrell Williams 'Happy' video; warn women to comply with police campaign on proper wearing of mandatory headscarves. MORE

May. 22, 2014

Six young Iranians are released on bail after their arrest for posting a YouTube video of themselves dancing on Tehran rooftops to Happy, the globally infectious pop song; episode appears to reflect clash between Iran's religious conservatives and faction represented by Pres Hassan Rouhani, relatively moderate cleric who was elected on pledges to ease some restraints in Iran, including censorship of the Internet. MORE

May. 7, 2014

Russian Pres Vladimir V Putin quietly signs new law requiring popular online voices to register with the government, another major step toward restricting the Internet; lawyers, Internet pioneers and political activists say measure will give the government a much wider ability to track who said what online. MORE

May. 3, 2014

Op-Ed article by author Evan Osnos describes his experience trying to get his book about China, Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China, published in Chinese translation; notes experience underscored degree to which China's government relies on censorship; contends he was unwilling to publish a censored translation in mainland China, choosing to publish a Chinese translation in Taiwan instead. MORE

Apr. 28, 2014

Chinese regulators order streaming video websites nationwide to take down four popular American series, including The Big Bang Theory, The Good Wife, NCIS and The Practice; move precedes new rules seeking to close loophole allowing foreign shows to flourish online. MORE

Apr. 26, 2014

Biyi Bandele, director of film Half of a Yellow Sun, says it has been effectively banned in Nigeria after country's film censorship board refuses to issue movie a certificate; film deals with Nigeria's civil war, which lasted from 1967 to 1970, in one of most searing episodes in nation's history. MORE

Apr. 4, 2014

Turkish government lifts ban on Twitter one day after country's highest court rules the two-week ban in the social media site violates freedom of expression; delay generates speculation about whether government is going to abide by the ruling. MORE

Mar. 28, 2014

Recording of Turkish officials discussing plot to establish justification for military strikes in Syria is posted on Youtube; disclosure rattles government officials and prompts move to block access to Youtube; leak, latest in series of similar incidents, suggests high level of sophistication for those responsible for leaks. MORE

Mar. 27, 2014

Court in Turkey rules that the government of Prime Min Recep Tayyip Erdogan cannot ban Twitter, as it sought to do, and orders country’s telecommunications authority to restore access to the service; action by the government had been met inside and outside the country with an uproar about respect for freedom of expression. MORE

Mar. 25, 2014

Turkish Journalists' Assn, as well as two experts in Internet law, take legal action to try to overturn a government ban on Twitter, even as government intensifies its efforts to block access to the social media site. MORE

Mar. 23, 2014

Article about Pakistan's relationship to Al Qaeda, and its knowledge of Osama bin Laden's last hiding place within its borders, is censored from the front page of about 9,000 copies of the International New York Times in Pakistan. MORE

Mar. 22, 2014

Turkish Prime Min Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ban of Twitter draws international outrage and is defied by thousands of Turks, including Pres Abdullah Gul, who protested--using Twitter. MORE